Marshwood’s 1989 team was something to behold

Friday

Nov 16, 2012 at 3:15 AM

By John Doylejdoyle@fosters.comTwitter: @JohnDoyle603

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — When the Marshwood High School football team walked off the field at Bowdoin College after winning the 1989 Maine Class A championship, few envisioned that it would be more than two decades before the Hawks returned to a state final.

After all, those Hawks, one of the most dominant teams in state history, had just completed a four-year stretch in which they had won three titles in three different classes.

“We had size, speed, dedication and talent,” said Rod Wotton, who coached Marshwood to 17 state championships, including the 1989 team. “It was about all you ask for from a high-school football team. Pretty good for a team from a school that was so small.”

Marshwood went 12-0 that season and capped the decade with a 26-14 win over Skowhegan for the championship. It was the last of Wotton’s titles won with the Hawks. He went on to win four more as the coach of St. Thomas Aquinas in Dover.

“I didn’t realize it had been that long,” said Wotton, who is now retired and lives in York, Maine. “I thought they went to the finals another year, but I guess I was wrong. Twenty-three years is a long time.”

This year’s Marshwood team will play in its first championship game since 1989 when it faces Mt. Blue for the Class B title Saturday night at 6:06 p.m. at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. Marshwood (10-1) won the Western Maine Class B championship last weekend with a 21-20 win over York. Mt. Blue, the Eastern champion, is 11-0.

“I hope they can take it all the way,” Wotton said about his former team. “If they can play without making any mistakes, they should give Mt. Blue all they can handle.”

The undisputed star of the game, and the season, for Marshwood in 1989 was Steve Knight, a 5-foot-11, 195-pound running back who scored all of the Hawks’ points that afternoon. He scored on touchdown runs of 44, 2, 92 and 4 yards and added a 2-point conversion.

“I just remember the group of guys we had,” said Knight, who now runs his own business in Danvers, Mass. “We had a great team, and we were all friends on and off the field. The coaching staff was excellent as well.”

The Hawks led 20-8 at halftime but Skowhegan got right back in the game with a third-quarter touchdown. Marshwood, which had won 23 straight going into that game, took over at its own 44 in the final minute of the third frame. The Hawks put together a drive that featured nine runs, five by Knight and one by Cory Carignan, giving themselves all the insurance they needed.

It was Marshwood’s first year in Class A. The Hawks had won the Class C title in 1986 and the Class B crown in 1988. Their 20-0 loss to Wells in the Class B semifinals in 1987 was the only loss in four years for the senior class that won the 1989 championship, as the team went 43-1 in that stretch.

The Hawks were beyond dominant in 1989. They amassed more than 3,100 yards on the ground that season and outscored opponents 437-101. They beat Cheverus 41-0 in the regional semifinals and Biddeford 15-8 in the final. Their regular-season game against Biddeford, a 27-13 win, attracted a crowd estimated at 8,500 fans to their field in Eliot.

Knight finished with 1,452 yards to give him 3,185 for his career, along with 61 rushing touchdowns. He won the Fitzpatrick Award that year, given to the top high school football player in Maine. He went on to a standout four-year career at the University of Maine, where he ran for 1,408 yards and was co-captain his senior year.

Other standouts in that senior class included Carignan, who had 89 yards on 11 carries against Skowhegan, as well as three tackles and an interception in the end zone; Justin Rosberg, a 6-3, 250-pound defensive tackle; Abel Schultze, a 5-9, 205-pound fullback; defensive lineman Mike Adamets and quarterback Geoff Gordon.

Knight said the seeds of Marshwood’s dominating senior class and its string of championships were planted well before the players reached high school. Playing for the Little Hawks youth program, Knight and his teammates were well aware of what lay ahead in high school with Coach Wotton.

“He had a reputation, and we knew going forward what was going to happen the first time you touched the football in fourth grade,” Knight said. “You grew up knowing who he was.”

Knight, who coaches his 10-year-old son’s youth-football team, hadn’t decided if he’d make the trip to Portland on Saturday night to see his old team. But said he’s been keeping up with the Hawks all season.

“I usually get updates from my dad,” Knight said. “He comes down to my son’s games and updates me. There’s a possibility I may make it up there. I haven’t been to a game in some time. It’s pretty exciting.”